I’ve scribbled on napkins, church bulletins, 3-subject, and 5-subject notebooks. Anything to get thoughts out of my head and onto the page medium. While I still use my laptop for lose thoughts and have a journal for morning gratitude and meals (among others), there’s still nothing quite like the simplicity of an assignment notebook.
It’s a human tendency to itemize, retract, and go back to notes. Organizing information helps things become digestible… Says the marketer-turned-librarian.
So why did it take me an entire year of grad school to go back to the trusty assignment notebook?
Maybe it was Safeway’s sticker. This handy dandy 17-month journal was half off. I’m sure the store figured it’d still be a worthwhile find, even with its first month of August already passed. And the corporation was right. Dagnammit!
Seeing all my day-by-day goals in item form, ready for a quick check off, paired with a bigger picture monthly calendar, is so satisfying. And oh so simple.
Here’s some of the easy-peasy assignment notebook system:
- At the start of the week, I list out all what I want to do for the 7 days ahead.
- I try to list specific items that I want to do on a particular day, with an alloted hour-three hours/item, so they are truly tasks (or assignments), with self-created deadlines.
- Then, I add a deadline at the top of the date it’s due.
- Adding an accountibibuddy helps. A dog helps, too, but they’re optional.
- By comparison, the monthly view is what you want to do from a bigger perspective. Locations and event names may work well here.
Such concentrated time reminds me of high school, when each student was gifted an assignment notebook. (Anyone else? Ours had trivia every week. I still remember one: Peanut is a common ingredient of dynamite… So I remember telling friends I was allergic to both!) I adorned that ol’ notebook with stickers. Since they all looked the same, it was the least I could do to differentiate mine from the pack.
I’m sure there are metaphors in all of this. Certain aspects of life should be easy. Not everything has to be a challenge. Sometimes, picking up the notebook (when I know I have so many others) for one specific tasks – listing out all my tasks – has given me peace of mind, that grad assignments aren’t going to get lost in the shuffle. That I’ll make time for what I care about.
So what if it’s another notebook? This system works for me. Make it easy, make it simple.